Ben Hammersley

Speaker Ben Hammersley is a preeminent international futurist, thought leader and author on the networked world. He is host of Cybercrime with Ben Hammersley for BBC World News, editor-at-large for Wired and author of Now for then: How to face the Digital Future without Fear.

Speaker Profile

About Ben Hammersley

As an in-demand, high-level consultant to global organizations and companies, Hammersley’s work stems from the realization that the thinking of most people, companies, governments and institutions, come from a theoretical basis of pre-digital, pre-complexity 20th century thinking. That thinking no longer works, and so to truly prosper in the 21st century, we need to pause and examine the true contexts of our lives. In his keynotes, digital and trends guru Hammersley will help you discover the new realities, see the forces that drive our world today and guide you to strategies and techniques to give you the advantages you need.

Hammersley has also been called upon to advise three governments in the area of technology and media including a seat on the European Commission High Level Group on Media Freedom of the European Union.

As host of Cybercrimes, he explores a global threat that could impact us all—the dark world of hacking. A new generation of highly organized cybercriminals run complex commercial enterprises, involving leaders, planners, engineers, infantry and hired money mules. Hammersley also is the author of the acclaimed book 64 Things You Need To Know Now For Then, a guide to the new concepts of the modern world. His most recent book, Now For Then: How To Face The Digital Future Without Fear, is on the latest ideas in technology, culture, business and politics. It demystifies the Internet, decodes cyberspace and ushers us through the innovation revolution in which we are all living.

Additionally, Hammersley is editor-at-large for WIRED magazine, a columnist for BA Business Life magazine and the Principal of Onwards, Friend, a program that develops science and launch platforms for high-altitude and low-earth orbit. In fact, he is building his own personal satellite.

When Hammersley speaks to audiences, he dissects intricate concepts and developing technologies and adds fascinating stories and analogies to make these topics accessible. While some speakers and pundits use a “doom and gloom” method to scare people about our rapidly developing future, Hammersley employs humor and common sense to illustrate his views.

His methods are especially helpful when illustrating that spheres of power and influence have dramatically changed in the last generation, and how most of us employ a way a thinking that doesn’t line up with today’s society—or the future. “Our jobs, our businesses, our institutions and governments and civic infrastructure, the marketplace, the flow of ideas, wars and the supply chain, are all—to a degree I think most would find terrifying—far more complex and weird than we’re generally aware. This is partly because of a reluctance to truly look, partly because orthodox understandings of the world are deeply culturally embedded, and partly because we lack the cognitive tools to actually do that thinking,” Hammersley says.

A speaker and consultant that can mold to any industry’s needs, Hammersley consults with organizations and corporations about trends, technology and security, whether it’s in travel, financial services, human resources or government. But he doesn’t just talk to the big guys; he also consults with smaller associations and organizations. Through detailed research, he will sort through the issues troubling you, find your strengths, and devise a completely customized speech and action plan that will help your organization move forward.

He’ll share what holds your company back, what or who the disrupters are in your sector and exactly how you to navigate, succeed and thrive—in the future. We pay for goods with our phones, attend “face-to-face” company meetings via computer screen, and some of us even conduct government business on iPads. What are the missing tools, technologies, techniques and ways of seeing that we’re missing? And if we properly mastered this wayward knowledge, how would they help us grow?

Book Ben Hammersley before your competition does.

Speaking Topics

Sustainable leadership in the digital age

How to Keep Your Job in a Digital World

Artificial Intelligence & Virtual Reality

Big Data

Cybersecurity

Innovation – global trends

On Futurism: Understanding the Digital Future

Ben Hammersley speaks on the effects of the digital and networked world on business, society and your life. Through compelling stories, deep analysis and bleeding-edge examples of the modern world, Hammersley will help you, your business, government or institution transition into the future with detailed, bespoke plans completely shaped to your organization. He speaks not only on high-level topics, like the exponential growth in computing power or artificial intelligence, but also on technology’s impact on cultural phenomena. For instance, why is Beyonce is more influential than some governments, and how does that make sense? Why did President Obama choose to give interviews to popular YouTube hosts instead of FOX or the New York Times? Why has the government of Estonia chosen to conduct parliament sessions almost entirely on iPads? How did one man in China make most of London late for work?

He will reveal the extreme interconnectedness between seemingly disparate entities, and how technology is at work in everything we do, whether we realize it or not. You’ll discover how technology will give us super powers, and how we can use them to our best advantages, and how to move forward to your best advantage.

If you or your company is afraid of what’s next and feel that there are forces at work that drain your market share, Hammersley can help. From working with companies and institutions worldwide, he’s found that there is an inherent disconnect between the leaders of these organizations and the world that we live in today. Society has progressed at such an accelerated pace, that some business owners feel like they’re being “eaten alive” by things happening within their own company, and a result, hemorrhage funds. That’s where Hammersley comes in; using his unique expertise, to transform your organization—and propel it into the 21st century with all the tools you need to prosper.

Testimonials

We don't currently have any testimonials to display for Ben Hammersley.

However, if you would like more information, including references and testimonials from clients, complete this short form or call on +44 (0) 1628 636600.

Best-selling author of over two hundred publications, Professor and founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. READ MORE

Please note:1. Fee guidelines are for speaking engagements taking place in England2. Regrettably, we cannot contact Ben Hammersley on your behalf unless it is for a genuine speaking engagement. 3. We also will not supply contact details for Ben Hammersley or any other speaker without their express consent.